Tag Archives: auto auction

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2015 Review

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barrett-jackson-2015As I was going to the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2015 auction, a thought occurred to me: I have been going to this event for over 10 years! During that time, I have seen the auction grow and change with the collector car market.

In case you are not familiar with Barrett-Jackson, their annual Scottsdale auction is THE collector car event of the year. It’s like the Super Bowl of cars – no other auction has more cars, more attendees, or more media attention than this one. For car guys, visiting is a sacred rite of passage to worship at the altar of speed. It’s hallowed ground, like the Bonneville Salt Flats or Daytona Beach or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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1963 Chevrolet Corvette Custom – The Condor

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The world of kustom kulture as we know it today began as an offshoot of the Southern California hot rodding scene. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, guys like George Barris, Big Daddy Roth, and Gene Winfield were coming up with wild new custom cars that had radically chopped roofs, slammed suspensions, shaved bodies, and custom pinstriping to show off their vehicles.

The allure of the kustom kar scene went out like a shockwave across the country, where it reverberated strongly with Jack Walker of Belton, Missouri. Jack was your typical hot rodding teenager, until he decided to start building cars for show. The first vehicle he displayed was in 1970, and it was called “The Condor.”

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1963 Corvette – World’s Fastest Street Legal Car

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1963 was a very special year for the Chevrolet Corvette because it was the one and only year the car came with a split rear window. This oddity makes 1963 model years highly desirable to collectors. However, this ’63 Corvette is special for another reason: it holds the official title of “World’s Fastest Street Legal Car.”

Looking at the car with its roll cage, huge Mickey Thompson tires, and the two gigantic turbochargers sticking out of the cowl hood, it certainly doesn’t look like a street legal car. However, it has opening doors, power windows, turn signals and a horn, and even a cupholder! In its “street trim,” this car ran the quarter mile in 6.75 seconds at an incredible 209.96 mph!

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1999 Shelby Series 1 Convertible

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Carroll Shelby will forever be remembered as the man who put Ford V8 engines into AC Cobras in the 1960s, and as the man who souped up Mustangs and other cars for auto manufacturers. For most of his career, Shelby advised or improved upon other people’s projects. What if he set out to design a car of his own? What would it look like? Ladies and gentlemen, the Shelby Series 1 Convertible.

This car has the distinction of being the only car designed, engineered, and built from the ground up by Carroll Shelby. It’s kind of an odd-looking car, though you can tell by looking at it that the fit and finish are too good to be a kit. Only 249 of these vehicles were produced, making them extremely rare. This luxury roadster originally cost $180,000 when it came out in 1999. This particular car belonged to Jamie Navarro, pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers.

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1965 Ford Mustang GTS Fastback ‘Bad Apple’

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While walking around at Barrett-Jackson 2014, I spotted this ’65 Mustang Fastback nicknamed “Bad Apple.” Honestly, it looked so good I thought it was a Ringbrothers car at first glance. The shaved door handles and no side mirrors give it a really sleek, streamlined look. As it turns out, this car was actually built by Jim Green’s Performance Center in Monroe, WA.

On the one hand, this is a really nice build. The work that has gone into this car is first rate and I truly believe that it was a $200,000 build, as mentioned in the auction notes. On the other hand, this car exemplifies just how ridiculous the muscle car world has become.

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2009 Mosler Raptor GTR Prototype

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One of my favorite things about Barrett-Jackson is coming across all of the weird, limited-production, boutique cars that you just never see anywhere else. The Mosler Raptor GTR is a perfect example of this.

Started in the mid-1980s, Mosler Automotive has been the side project of hedge fund manager Warren Mosler. Unfortunately, the company seems to have dissolved in 2013. The Riviera Beach, Florida-based company made a variety of cars for the street and for the track, and one of these was the Raptor GTR.

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